A Pictures Worth Some Truths and Some Lies
by SlippingSanity
Summary: The teams of Beyblading come under fire in the form of posting, publishing, and other forms of convincing material. Can they learn to live with the lies, tell the truth, exposed the attackers, and make it through the confusion? ReiMax KaiTyson and others
1. Chapter One: A Warning

SlippingSanity: Ah! Don't kill me! I know that I have so many other fanfics to update, and I will, but I just really, really wanted to get this one out! (Well, this one and another one that will be a bit similar, but the other one I'm thinking about will be in the genre of "Horror".)

Title: A Pictures Worth Some Truths and Some Lies

Summary: The teams of Beyblading come under fire in the form of posting, publishing, and other forms of convincing material. Can they learn to live with the heated debates over which is right, which is wrong, which is acceptable, and which will tear their team apart? Will they be able to believe what is truth, even with so many truthful lies? Will they catch whoever is doing this?

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. Beyblade and all of its characters and events belong to Takao Aoki and to all of those whom have taken part in Beyblade's creation.

Character One: Max Tate Character Two: Kai Hiwatari

Pairings: Rei Kon/ Max Tate

Kai Hiwatari/ Tyson Kinomiya

And possibly others

Genre: Angst/ Romance

Rating: T

* * *

Chapter 1: A Warning

* * *

_He loved being a celebrity. He loved being that one thing in people's lives that inspired them, whether it be inspration to be him or to beat him. It didn't matter to him because fame was fame after all. Not only was the fact that he was a celebrity to other the cause of his joy, but it was also his own proof. His celebrity status was his own proof to himself that he was the best. Fame was the reward he knew he recieved for fighting so hard to become the best. He was the best (he knew he was even before the fame, as he'd tell you himself), and now the entire world knew it!_

_Tyson gave us one of his many smiles of confidence, craned his neck back, and laughed heartily into the air._

_"Even Kai knows I'm the best!" Tyson joked, his laughter continuing and spreading to the other people in the building. "Even though he won't admit to it!"_

_When asked why he believed that Kai wouldn't admit what he believed to be true to the world, Tyson's reply had been a simple shake of the head followed by his finger held up to his lips in the motions of shushing someone._

_"It's a secret," he whispered._

_"Oh, okay then," we replied before we dropped the matter and continued asking Tyson questions about his views on the next tornement (for more infomation on Tyson's replies, turn to page 53)._

_Our interview with the world champion ended late into the afternoon, something the red and white baseball donned teen was none to thrilled about._

_"Aw man," Tyson moaned and he slouched as slowly walked down the stairs to the car his grandfather was patently waiting in. "I bet the old sourpuss'll make me train double for this."_

_Even as we waved our goodbyes to the sighing teen, though, we couldn't help but wonder one thing:_

_If what Tyson says is true, will Kai ever admit to us all that Tyson is better than him at Beyblading?_

Kai exhaled and rolled his eyes as he read the last few sentences. Unlike what Tyson thought he'd do, Kai hadn't blown a fuse or launched Dranzer at the champ's face or anything of the like. He didn't really care about what the magazine said, nor did he care about what the world would think of him when they read the last line on the page.

What did catch his attention and twisted a nerve, however, was what Tyson had said about him being unwilling to admit that Tyson was better than he was. Kai was sure that he told Tyson on may occasions that Tyson was better than him, and that he would become stronger and beat the teen down to become the best. Kai was positive that he told Tyson that Tyson was his weakness and his strength, Tyson was what broke him but is also the one that forces him to grow stronger. With every launch of their blades, whith every contact that Dragoon and Dranzer shared, Kai silently informed Tyson that he was better than the team captain, but those same contacts were clashes that let Tyson know that he would one day rise to the top and defeat Tyson.

Kai stood in the corner of the Kinomiya dojo's walls, his arms tightening as they crossed his chest. At least, that's what Kai thought.

"You're not mad?" Rei looked up from the newly purchased magazine in Max's hands to Kai with one eyebrow raised.

"No."

"Whew!" Tyson exhaled dramatically as he wiped the invisible sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "I thought you were going to light me on fire or something. Good to know that you can handle a joke, Kai."

"I do what I can with what I'm given," Kai's tone of voice was laced with something only Max discovered, which sent the blonde in a small fit of barely contained giggles. Kai found himself squinting at Max with a small glare. He didn't say it, but it must have been obvious that since their first battle as a team, Kai hated the way Max could look beyond his words and actions and find something nice or level with the others on the team. At least now Kai had learned not to hate Max for that ability, but it became slightly annoying at times. "Something funny, Max?"

Max continued to laugh as Tyson thought over what Kai had said.

"Hey!" Tyson yelled with anger, jumping quickly to his feet from the coffee table to Kai's face. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

"What it sounded," Kai answered in a cool, casual manner with a shrug. "You, Tyson, are the joke."

"What?!"

"You heard me."

"What makes you say that?" Rei stood behind Tyson, holding him around the waist to keep the angry and yelling teen from starting more than a verbal arguement with the stotic team captain. "Tyson is the champion, so he's doing something right."

"Yeah!" Tyson agreed with Rei, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding sagely.

"Yes, he may be doing something right," Kai uncrossed his arms and walked past Rei and Tyson, his long white scarf softly shifting with Kai's movements, the tails giving off low snaps. He stopped in front of Max and eased the magazine away from the other boy's grip. Kai scanned over the two pages of typed words and intense pictures of Tyson before he held the book out to Rei and Tyson. "but in all of these pictures, I can point out at least two flaws in your Beyblading."

Rei released Tyson as Tyson took the offered book and gave it a quick glancing over before rolling up the magazine and tucking it under his arm. "I don't know what you're talking about. My blading is fine."

"Actually, Tyson," Kenny spoke up from his spot on the floor. He contined to type away on his laptop, the light from the screen reflecting off of his thick lensed glasses as he continued. "Kai's right. I did a look over of those pictures from the magazine's website and, even though from the shots that weren't candid and from the various competitions, there are noticible flaws."

"Way to be on my side," Tyson grumbled as he gave Kenny a playful glare. Kenny laughed sheepishly and scratched his head before starting to type again.

Tyson remained silent for a second longer before he and, from what he picked up, Rei and Max, asked the same question.

"What do you mean by 'candid shots'?"

Kenny sighed softly and turned his eyes away from his laptop's screen. "Just as I said, Tyson. You guys are famous in the world of Beyblading, I mean huge! It's only natural that people take pictures of you all need be for a magazine, enjoyment, or profit. This may sound fun," Kenny continued when he was going to stop as he noticed the smile growing on Tyson's lips. "and it probaly is, I want you all to be careful."

"Careful of what, Chief?" Max asked.

"Careful of what goes on with you. Some people might just take pictures for magazines or even just to know more about the lives of their favorite celebrities, but publicity at all times isn't always a good thing. Sometimes things about well known persons get mixed up in the onesided viewpoint, meaning that, well, a picture is worth more than a thousand words but not all of them have to be the truth." Kenny's face seemed to pale as he said this, his eyes back on the screen of his laptop.

"Like that could happen to us," Tyson waved his hand as if to casually dismiss the thought. "The BladeBreakers, or any team for that matter, wouldn't get caught up in anything like that!" Tyson laughed.

"I'd think again if I were you... " Kenny held out his laptop for the others to see.

"Whoa... " Rei breathed as he bent over to read the screen.

"I don't believe it," Max's eyes widened.

Kai rose an eyebrow at the screen and the big bold letters of the heading. His eyes glared at the laptop, red eyes attempting to burn a hole in the website and into whoever it was that wrote it.

"**Team Captain's Actions Questionable: Training or Dating?**"

Kai read the words and reread them again, his mind refusing to register what he was reading. He read the title once, twice, three times, but still the words remained foreign to him, as if the language had become some ancient signs in such a short amount of seconds.

"Tala?" Tyson asked into the air as he stared at the photo of said teen pasted next to the long article.

The black and white photo was of Tala and Bryan leaving a well known gym in Russia, Tala's arm around Bryan's waist, his head leaning against Bryan's shoulder with his eyes closed and his clothes rustled. Bryan's face was tilted towards Tala's, his facial expression soft for such a normally violent blader.

"Tala and Bryan dating?" Tyson rose an eyebrow and was, in a matter of seconds, sitting next to Kenny and reading the article that so quickly caught his attention.

Rei turned his head in Kai's direction, quickly noticing the unexpressed anger and confusion in the stotic captain. "Kai? Are you alright?"

"I'll be back later," Kai spoke an almost forced manner as he walked past the other occupants of the room and exited the dojo. Once outside of the dojo and away from earshot, he reached into his pocket and fished out his cellphone and flipped the top open. As he rose his finger to dial an extention, the phone rang and vibrated in his hands, the name of the very person he wanted to speak with flashing with the light from his cell phone screen. He pressed the green talk button and brought the cell phone to his ear.

"Tala?"

_"Let me guess,"_ The voice on the other end was rushed, angered and sarcastic, _"You and your team read the article about me and Bryan that's online. Am I right?"_

"Pretty much," Kai replied with a slight shrug as he leaned against the trunk of a tree. "What is that?"

_"Don't get me started."_ Tala paused and scoffed, _"I just called to let you know that there might be something bigger than that article. Something that's a threat to the team, if not, then the support and reputation of the individuals in my, your, or anyone else's team."_

Kai's back stiffened as he listened to the words Tala spoke. His eyes hardened on the ground in front of him at the tone, and at what Tala was hinting at. "You think that someone is purposely posting things about teams that could be used against them?"

_"I'm not saying that exactly, but it's a theory. The team has been doing back checks of such events and scams like this aren't all that rare. Apparently, there are supposed to be many different companies that try to prevent such a thing from taking place, but there ar just as many companies out there that are willing to spread lies for their own personal reasons."_

"Anything else?"

_"Not now."_

"Okay, let me know if anything else comes up."

_"Yeah. Bye."_

"Bye, Tala," Kai closed his cell phone and placed it back in his pocket.

The sounds of birds chirping as the flew overhead and the leaves in the trees rustling with the wind kept the calm in his thoughts. He let the warmth the poured in from inbetween the leaves fall upon his skin, the sun itself beginning to fall from it's high position in the sky. Night was beginning to take over the sky to the beautiful and odd day, and Kai couldn't have been the more relieved. He just had to wait and see what was around the bend and deal with it when the time came.

Kai shook his head, shaking off any idea of telling any of his teammates. Why bother them with something like this? Surely nothing of this level would bother the dynamics of the team he was captain of... well, except for Tyson, he supposed.

He shook his head once again, banishing any thought of the navy-haired teen. Tyson's reactions was one of the reasons for he withholding the news. He didn't want any attention to be brought towards his team, nor towards whatever was really happening. Besides--

"Kai!" Tyson yelled from the doorway, "Are you gonna stand outside and brood all day?"

The addressed teen glared from the tree he leaned against and crossed his arms over his chest.

"No? Didn't think so," Tyson smiled, "I know you know that Tala and the others will be fine. What's a little bit of questionable writing, right?" Tyson shrugged and walked back into the dojo, shouting something to Rei about Kai's actions.

Kai shook his head and pushed himself off of the tree. _If it happens to you, would you be able to say the same thing?_ Kai thought as he walked into the dojo and closed the door behind himself with a gentle click of the lock.


	2. Chapter Two: Watch What You Say

SlippingSanity: Please forgive me! I've been super busy with work and stuff and I've been too lazy and sleepy to get off my butt and write! Well, I have been writing chapters to a fanfic, but not to this one. 'Bedtime Story' has a lot written out for it, but I just have to find the time to type it up and then edit and switch the words and change the content and… Arrg! So much work!

…Ahem. Yes. Well, here's the newest chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade. Beyblade and all of its characters and events belong to Takao Aoki and to all of those whom have taken part in Beyblade's creation.

* * *

Chapter Two: Watch What You Say

* * *

Needless to say that the entire story, whether false or not, had caused something more than an uproar. Over zealous fan girls and fans in general (which included boys, children, men and women and the like) took to the streets. Some in support of a relationship that could possibly not exist at all, others in a strong grip of defiance, some neutral yet felt the need to yell, and those who obviously did not agree with not only the words, but the idea in general. There were no clear cut answers to questions that were so rapidly posed. Some reporters attempted to talk to Tala and Bryan themselves, but Tala knew how to easily lose a crowd and Bryan, well, a well aimed blade was more than enough to deter any reporter especially when it became a guessing game of whether the blade being thrown was his Falcon or an actual weapon. Talking to the other members of the Blitz team turned out to be useless, seeing as to how Spencer never really said a lot in the first place and Ian tended to disappear whenever his name was even mentioned.

This, of course, only served more heaping plates of heated debates to the only available customer in the diner: Kai.

With a grunt of annoyance, said boy decided that he was not going out to eat ever again. From now on it was either eat what was cooked or order take out.

"So, Kai Hiwatari!" One of the many reporters crowding around the only entrance and exit of the restaurant held up their microphone. "What is your take on the situation? Your comments?"

His take? Kai could have taken every camera, camcorder, microphone, pencil/pen and notepad, and any other device set up to record any of his actions or words and shove them down their respective owners throats. It was bad enough to have to walk out from his meal only to have flashing white lights and raised microphones shoved in his mouth, but now they wanted his viewpoint on it also.

As far as he could see, there were nothing more than a bunch of people gathered around him to ask him questions on something that 1) were none of his concern and 2) they should really be hearing from the two mostly involved, rather than just some side branch that was only connected to this new grown tree because of past relations. Other than the fact that he'd talked to Tala not even an hour before the camera's appeared before him, there was really nothing much to gain from him. No, he and Tala didn't converse like Tyson and Max did when they were countries apart, but they didn't avoid each other completely either. They had moments in which one would call the other just to converse or even just to have someone on the phone with, and this particular phone call nor did any other that Kai saw in the future involved the article that questioned Tala's and Bryan's sexuality.

What Tala and Bryan did or didn't do was their own business as far as Kai was concerned.

"What are your thoughts on the possibility that two of your closest friends might be gay?" Another reporter, female, spoke into her microphone then held it out in Kai's direction.

He was supposed to answer that? What did he care if Tala and Bryan were hot for one another? They were still respectable bladers and they were still his friends. If they were indeed homosexual it didn't change a thing about them. Tala was still Tala and Bryan was still Bryan.

_"I knew you were gay. Faggot! The day I catch you sleeping with some other bastard will be too soon!"_

Kai winced at the voice booming in his head. His grandfather always had a way of haunting him from the grave he had yet to fill. Even as he stood before all the paparazzi in the restaurant entryway he could feel the towering walls of his grandfather's mansion surrounding him. Over the roll of overlapping questions and the clicks of shutters Kai could hear Voltaire's harsh words and snide remarks. He stood bold and fully dressed in his black leather shirt and navy cargo pants with his long white scarf and arm guards, but he felt like he were back in the mansion as a curious child trembling because one of the relatives Voltaire had eventually estranged himself and Kai from had decided to play dress up with Kai and put him in a dress.

He could feel his eyebrows dip towards the middle of his face. He was not proud about those moments. His grandfather's voice and condescending gaze as he was insulted over and over and over again...

"Disgusting." Kai muttered aloud despite himself, berating the vision of the old man sneering at him from imaginary distances. "Annoyance. Rot where you stand." He continued to speak, unbidden by his own consciousness.

Even as he went on muttering curses at his mental picture of his grandfather, he could see the reporters scribbling and making exclamations amongst themselves. The microphones closed in on him and the cameras were angled towards his mouth.

Kai could feel it in his bones that something totally wrong was about to occur. The cameras continued to roll and recorders continued to do what they do best, and Kai could recall a moment not too long ago when he called Tyson a nosy idiot for repeating something that Kai kept secret. Tyson had told him that he sometimes spoke his thoughts out loud, almost as if he wanted someone to hear them or at least wanted them to be heard. Kai remembered telling Tyson that he was full of it.

Hn...

Maybe, just maybe, Tyson was right.

* * *

"Holy crap! You're homophobic?!" Tyson jump up from his laid position on the living room floor and turned to Kai whom was sitting in his grandfather's recliner reading a horror novel.

"What?" Kai lowered the novel a fraction, revealing uninterested eyes to the public (Max, Tyson, Rei, and Kenny).

"The news!" Tyson pointed at the television which was currently doing an exclusive on the restaurant encounter. "From the interview! They showed you saying all these things about Tala and Bryan and the whole..." Tyson wrung his hands in the air as if gripping for something, possibly the right word to use.

"Not confirmed relationship?" Rei supplied from the living room coffee table, on hand on one bended knee, the other one supporting his weight behind him.

"Yeah!" Tyson nodded in agreement. "So, are you?" Tyson turned his attention back to their seated captain.

"_Ha Ha! My grandson is the little faggot!" Voltaire laughed and teased hauntingly._

Kai stared absently at Tyson, the book eased into his lap as Voltaire's words echoed from the past. They mixed into his present as easily as powder into liquid and left reality floating somewhere in the glass like oil to water. Even though he hadn't said anything, Kai sincerely wished for that thin layer of mixture between the two liquids that was reality.

"A faggot?" Kai tilted his head slightly with confusion and anger towards his invisible reminder.

The room stilled at the reply like water in a freezer. No one blinked or spoke to Kai. Their mouths remained opened and their eyes stared with surprise and disbelief at their team captain, and to Kai they appeared as statues. Either statues or frozen ice sculptures and vaguely Kai toyed with the idea that if they were in a freezer he wouldn't see their frozen puffs of breath as they appeared so stunned that they might have forgotten how to breathe.

"What?" Kai glared with aggravation at his frozen audience while feeling as though he were on stage and had forgotten his lines. He could feel the butterflies fluttering their wings against his insides as something akin to a nervous sweat covered his body with an invisible film of moisture.

Kai watched as Max stood and walked out of the living room. He could hear the door open and shut behind the younger blader and couldn't help but notice how the other three members of the Blade Breakers hadn't even so much as blinked.

Had what he'd said really had such an impact? It's not like that was his reply anyway! It just happened!

"I didn't… That's not what I was going to…" Kai caught his mouth replying and pulled his jaw shut. He turned quickly on his heel and left the living room wishing, ironically, that the silent three in the room were dead.

"Kai! Wait!"

Kai really wished that Tyson tripped over his own two feet and landed unconscious. That or he would stop racing towards him.

"Kai!" Tyson's voice was now coming not too far behind him.

Kai really wished for the latter.

"What do you want, Tyson?" Kai turned to face the shorter red-and-blue baseball cap donned teen. Kai crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't have the time for you right now."

"Oh yeah? Well, where were you going to go mister high and mighty?" Tyson stopped a few inches away from Kai and frowned.

"What do you want?" Kai demanded with just as much annoyance as he'd had the moment he stopped to face the world champ.

"Huh?" Tyson blinked a confused expression on his face.

"I'm leaving," Kai turned away from Tyson and attempted to move, but found Tyson's grip on his shoulder to be unnaturally strong. Either that or he was getting weak…

"_Great." Voltaire rolled his eyes, "You're a faggot and you're weak. Could you be anymore of a disappointment?"_

"What do you want from me?!" Kai hissed as he stared at the shadows on the floorboards with barely contained emotions rippling under his skin. He could feel the waves rocking his steady self like a small boat in a heavy storm and his vision spun slightly.

"Kai…" Tyson's grip in Kai's shoulder tightened briefly for comfort. "Are you alright? You've been freaking out a lot lately."

"I'm fine," Kai replied automatically, biting down on his tongue at his own lie. He was so confused and frustrated at the minor lapses of reality and at what it had already done to him.

Sure, he could really care less about what anyone thought about him but deep down, far beneath anything he ever buried yet close enough to the surface to stumble over if walked upon was his paranoia of his team. He'd left them at the drop of a hat many, many times but he'd always come back closer to his team than his skin was to his bones.

They let him do that to them.

They would let Kai go, painfully loosening their grip on his pulling hand and allow him to travel on whatever road he decided was best for him. They would fight to get him back, whether the enemy is some malevolent force or even Kai himself. And always, in the end, they would lace their hands with the limp fist Kai would try to make. They would always be whole. They would always be one.

They would always be a team.

The thought alone scared him. How should he act towards them? All his life he'd been a loner, so the act of friendship was so foreign and fragile. To him, Friendship was a glass; fragile and annoying to hold, but also so precious to him.

Had a phantom gone and shattered it?

"It wasn't me," Kai turned to Tyson and stared the other boy directly in the eyes. "I didn't mean those words at all."

"It's him, right? Voltaire?" Tyson asked as his hand that still rested on Kai's body now fisted the fabric of his shirt above his heart.

Kai's eyes widened a small fraction before returning to his neutral mask.

"How do you know?"

"You know when I told you that you think out loud?" Kai nodded. "Well, a few minutes before I told you that, you had mentioned Voltaire's name over and over again."

"What did I say?"

Tyson shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. What matters is right now."

"I didn't really mean to say those things. This isn't like a slip-up either, I just don't think that way. I never replied to any of those questions, only to what I heard Voltaire say to me." Kai confessed to Tyson.

"I know." Tyson's sincere smile changed dramatically into something forced, as though comically repressing the need to laugh. "You do know that you've just admitted to me that you're crazy, right Kai?"

Kai glared at Tyson.

"Get your hand off of me before I snap every bone in it."

Tyson snatched his hand away from Kai's chest like it had been burnt. "Geez," Tyson frowned.

Kai walked past Tyson, a smirk on his face as he stopped only one step behind Tyson.

"Tyson?"

"What?" Tyson glared out in front of him, a small angry pout on his lips.

"You know what I said, right? That I don't think like my grandfather." Kai continued to stare at the living room's door frame. "What if I told you that I wasn't homophobic, but that I'm gay myself?"

Tyson spun around quickly, his face the very image of the definition of shock. His eyebrows rose to their highest and his eyes were as wide as they could go without falling from their sockets. His mouth opened and closed as he sputtered nonsense words in no particular order.

"Wha- Really? You? I didn't- I mean I wouldn't have- … Really?" Tyson leaned in slightly like a person being told a deeply hidden secret. In many ways, he could have been. "Really?" He repeated as he leaned in closer.

"Don't look so greedy," Kai turned to Tyson, his smirk gone. "I was asking you, not coming out of the closet."

"Oh," Tyson straightened his posture, laughing nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "Yeah. Right. Of course."

"Idiot."

"But Kai," Tyson glared at his team captain, choosing to ignore the comment for now. "Are you really, you know, gay?"

"Why do you want to know?" Kai crossed his arms over his chest. "What do you want me to say? 'Yes Tyson, I am gay. I love you. You make me hot.'" Kai closed his eyes and spoke in a slight theatrical tone of voice as he seemed to recite lines he studied so hard to remember. "Is that it?" He opened his eyes.

Kai felt the muscle of his right eye twitch at the new blush donning Tyson's dramatic display of shock. He turned and walked into the living room, ignoring Tyson's calls for him to wait and explain if it were a joke or not. He had other things to do, like explain the press situation as best as he was comfortable with.

"Come on, Kai!" Tyson stood in the hallway, his face red as he called after the flapping tail ends of Kai's long white scarf.


End file.
